1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with the safe and stable retention, in moving vehicles, of various types of beverage containers such as, for instance, cups, mugs, cans and squeeze bottles and which containers are of varying sizes, particularly diameters. It is desirable to have a single, universal cup holder which may be safely retained within the vehicle, normally within reach of the driver of the vehicle and which holder will readily receive a beverage container of any diameter. The present universal holder fills this need in that it provides a readily adjustable holder which may be placed in a selected position in the vehicle and then adjusted by the user, through the shiftable movement of an adjustable unit, to selectively create a cup receiving area, which area may be varied by the user, depending upon the particular beverage container sought to be held. The largest of the cup receiving areas attainable through use of the present holder will accommodate the largest presently known consumer type of beverage container and in its closed condition the holder will present a cup receiving area just slightly smaller than the conventional beverage can, whereby such a can may be snugly received within the holder.
2. Description of Prior Art
While various types of cup holders for vehicles have been provided, most of the same merely present a cup receiving area of fixed diameter which will not accommodate beverage containers of widely differing sizes, as are commonly in commerical use today. Such fixed dimension holders are not adjustable by the user to cause the same to accommodate either larger or smaller diameter containers than that for which they are initially intended.
There have been prior art teachings of cup holders having a plurality of upstanding flexible arms, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,976 to Larson, dated Jan. 27, 1970, but the structure shown by said patent does not contemplate the provision of a pair of fixed legs together with an adjustable unit which carries a pair of legs, the legs cooperating to define the cup receiving area and being universally adjustable to accommodate a container of any presently known size. U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,478 issued May 21, 1963 to Stanley, contemplates a carrier for containers which has a number of different sized inserts whereby to accommodate containers of differing diameters.
Other prior art devices contemplate the use of spring fingers or rings or stepped, staggered walls in an attempt to create a holder which will receive various sizes of beverage containers.